View source for Helmand River

{{short description|Major river in Afghanistan}}
{{redirect|Hirmand|the administrative subdivision of Iran|Hirmand County}}
{{redirect|Helmund|the province in Afghanistan|Helmand Province}}
<!-- The following few lines create the "Infobox" table template.
     Please scroll down to edit the main content of the article. -->
{{Infobox river
| name = Helmand
| image = 
| image_size = 200
| image_alt = The Helmand and Boghra Canal
| image_caption = Helmand and [[Boghra Irrigation Canal|Boghra Canal]] beyond it
| map = Helmandrivermap.png
| map_size = 200
| map_alt = Helmand drainage basin
| map_caption = Map of the Helmand drainage basin
| mapframe = yes
| mapframe-zoom = 5
| subdivision_type1 = Countries
| subdivision_name1 = [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iran]]
| source1_location = [[Hindu Kush]] mountains
| mouth_location = [[Hamun Lake]]
| progression = 
| length = {{convert|1150|km|mi|abbr=on}}
| source1_elevation = 
| mouth_elevation = 
| discharge1_avg = 
| basin_size = [[Sistan Basin]]
| river_system = 
| tributaries_left = [[Arghandab River]]
| tributaries_right = [[Khash River]]<br>[[Chagay River]]
| extra = 
}}

The '''Helmand''' '''river''' ([[Pashto language|Pashto]]/[[Persian language|Dari]]: {{lang|fa|هیرمند / هلمند}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Ἐτύμανδρος, ''Etýmandros''; [[Latin]]: ''{{lang|la|Erymandrus}}''), also spelled '''Helmend''', or '''Helmund''', '''Hirmand''', is the longest [[river]] in [[Afghanistan]] and the primary [[drainage basin|watershed]] for the [[Endorheic basin|endorheic]] [[Sistan Basin]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/sistan.pdf
|title=History of Environmental Change in the Sistan Basin 1976 - 2005
|access-date=2007-07-20
|archive-date=2007-08-07
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807214557/http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/sistan.pdf
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> It originates in the [[Sanglakh Range]] of the [[Hindu Kush]] mountains in the northeastern part of [[Maidan Wardak Province]], where it is separated from the watershed of the [[Kabul River]] by the [[Unai Pass]]. The Helmand feeds into the [[Hamun Lake]] on the border of Afghanistan and [[Iran]].

== Etymology ==
The name comes from the [[Avestan]] ''Haētumant'', literally "dammed, having a dam", which referred to the Helmand River and the irrigated areas around it.<ref>Jack Finegan. ''Myth & Mystery: An Introduction to the Pagan Religions of the Biblical World''. Baker Books, 1997. {{ISBN|0-8010-2160-X}}, 9780801021602</ref> The word Haetumant is cognate with Sanskrit Setumatī meaning "one which has a dam."<ref>[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%81#Etymology Etymology] wiktionary.org</ref><ref>[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D Wiktionary]</ref>{{unreliable source inline|date=April 2025}}

== Geography ==
[[File:Helmand River Basin Sub.png|thumb|right|260px|Helmand River basin map]]
The Helmand stretches for {{convert|1,150|km|mi|abbr=on}}. It rises in the northeastern part of [[Maidan Wardak Province]] in the [[Hindu Kush]] mountains, about 40&nbsp;km<ref>{{Cite web|title=HELMAND RIVER i. GEOGRAPHY – Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/helmand-river-i|access-date=2020-06-14|website=www.iranicaonline.org}}</ref> west of [[Kabul]] ({{coord|34|34|N|68|33|E}}), flowing southwestward through [[Daykundi Province]] and [[Uruzgan Province]]. After passing through the city of [[Lashkargah]] in [[Helmand Province]], it enters the desert of [[Dasht-e Margo]], and then flows to the [[Sistan]] marshes and the [[Hamun-i-Helmand]] lake region around [[Zabol]] at the Afghan-Iranian border ({{coord|31|9|N|61|33|E}}). A few smaller rivers such as [[Tarnak River|Tarnak]] and [[Arghandab River|Arghandab]] flow into Helmand.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Helmand River {{!}} river, Central Asia|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Helmand-River|access-date=2020-06-15|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

This river, managed by the [[Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority]], is used extensively for irrigation, although a buildup of mineral salts has decreased its usefulness in watering crops. For much of its length, the Helmand is free of salt.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Helmand River|url=http://www.cawater-info.net/afghanistan/data/helmand_e.htm|access-date=2020-06-16|website=www.cawater-info.net}}</ref> Its waters are essential for farmers in Afghanistan, but it feeds into the [[Hamun Lake]] and is also important to farmers in Iran's southeastern [[Sistan and Baluchistan Province|Sistan and Baluchistan province]].

A number of hydroelectric dams have created artificial reservoirs on some of the Afghanistan's rivers including the [[Kajaki Dam]] on the Helmand River. The chief tributary of the Helmand river, the Arghandab River (confluence at {{coord|31|27|N|64|23|E|}}), also has [[Dahla Dam|a major dam]], north of [[Kandahar]].

==History==
The Helmand valley region is mentioned by name in the [[Avesta]] (''Fargard'' 1:13) as the [[Ariana|Aryan]] land of ''Haetumant'', one of the early centres of the [[Zoroastrian]] faith in [[pre-Islamic Afghan history|areas that are now Afghanistan]]. However, by the late first millennium BC and early first millennium AD, the preponderance of communities of Hindus and [[Buddhists]] in the Helmand and [[Kabul River|Kabul]] valleys led to [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]] referring to it as India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://parthia.com/doc/parthian_stations.htm|title = Parthian Stations}}</ref><ref>[http://www.avesta.org/vendidad/vd1sbe.htm Vendidad 1, at Avesta.org]</ref><ref>Beyond is Arachosia, 36 schoeni. And the Parthians call this White India; there are the city of Biyt and the city of Pharsana and the city of Chorochoad and the city of Demetrias; then Alexandropolis, the metropolis of Arachosia; it is Greek, and by it flows the river Arachotus. As far as this place the land is under the rule of the Parthians.</ref><ref>Avesta, translated by James Darmesteter (From [[Sacred Books of the East]], American Edition, 1898)</ref> From 1758 to 1842, the Helmand formed the northern borders of the [[Brahui people|Brahui]] [[Khanate of Kalat]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dashti |first=Naseer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIjyLNpusbAC&pg=PA190 |title=The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the Fall of the Baloch State |date=2012 |publisher=Trafford|isbn=978-1-4669-5896-8 |language=en|page=190|quote=}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[2023 Afghanistan–Iran clash]]
* [[List of rivers of Afghanistan]]
* [[Kamal Khan Dam]]
* [[Kajaki Dam]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Various authors |encyclopedia= [[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|title= HELMAND RIVER|url= http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/helmand-river|edition= Online|publisher= [[Columbia University]]|location= United States}}
* Frye, Richard N. (1963). ''The Heritage of Persia''. World Publishing company, Cleveland, Ohio. Mentor Book edition, 1966.
* [[Arnold J. Toynbee|Toynbee, Arnold J.]] (1961). ''Between Oxus and Jumna''. London. [[Oxford University Press]].
* Vogelsang, W. (1985). "Early historical Arachosia in South-east Afghanistan; Meeting-place between East and West." ''Iranica antiqua'', 20 (1985), pp.&nbsp;55–99.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Helmand River}}
{{EB1911 poster|Helmund}}
*[http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/hamoun/ From Wetland to Wasteland: The Destruction of the Hamoun Oasis]

{{Daykundi Province}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Helmand River| ]]
[[Category:Rivers of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Helmand River drainage basin| ]]
[[Category:Rivers of Sistan and Baluchistan Province]]
[[Category:International rivers of Asia]]
[[Category:Sarasvati River]]
[[Category:Landforms of Nimruz Province]]
[[Category:Landforms of Kandahar Province]]
[[Category:Landforms of Zabul Province]]
[[Category:Landforms of Kabul Province]]
[[Category:Landforms of Daykundi Province]]
[[Category:Landforms of Helmand Province]]